Nothing has changed months after fire death in crowded block, says lawyer

Rachel Olding

THE Bankstown apartment fire exposed serious flaws in the Euro Terrace block it devastated and the system of apartment block approvals in NSW. However, industry experts say Connie Zhang's death will not make a difference.

''Change has not occurred,'' a strata lawyer and the chairman of the Owners Corporation Network, Stephen Goddard, said. ''There will be another Bankstown because nothing has changed. You'd be safer living in an apartment block in Manila or Bali.''

Fairfax Media's investigations have found that Yinuo Jiang's apartment, from which Ms Zhang jumped to her death while fleeing the fire, was one of many in the block to which an illegal bedroom had been added.

The 10-storey block's atrium, also illegal, trapped thick smoke in the building. It was not required to be fitted with sprinklers because it fell 11 centimetres short of the 25-metre mandatory threshold for such safety features.

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A study by the University of NSW found that 85 per cent of new strata buildings have defects.

The Fire Protection Association and Fire and Rescue NSW have initiated a study into the 25-metre height exemption in the building code.

The FPA's chief executive, Scott Williams, said developers were constructing apartments shorter than the 25-metre threshold to cut costs.

Bankstown police's investigation into the fire will soon be given to the coroner, who will determine the circumstances of Ms Zhang's death and if any responsibility lies with the developer, builder, certifier, owners' corporation or proprietor. Meanwhile, Bankstown City Council has demanded an inspection of 12 units with illegal additions in the complex on West Terrace.

Mr Goddard said it was encouraging that councils were ''electing to engage'' but it would do little because the deregulated system for approvals, in which developers obtain certification from a private certifier, is open to abuse. ''Certifications are sold at a price, and the price is now loss of life,'' he said.